[Sopater]

17 states pay in less than they receive and 32 receive more than they pay in... Only RI breaks even.

Something I find surprising though, is that the federal gov't must consume an enourmous amount, so how does any state get back more than it pays in?

[frogjerk]

I would like to see a graph similar to this from a Congressional District perspective. That would be very interesting.

[napscoordinator]

Alaska receives 1.84 per tax dollar paid. Mississippi receives 2.02 per tax dollar paid. New Mexico receives 2.03 per tax dollar paid.

Holy cow. Why do they get freebie money. BS. This is why we are bankrupt. They should not get more than they pay. That is called Welfare!!!!!!

[CharlesWayneCT]

THe problem I have with these statistics is that they include government purchases of service as “tax allotments”.

So, if the government sends a state grant money for their school system, it counts as the same government “expenditure” as if the government hired a company in that state to build a jet fighter.

[RockinRight]

It’s problematic that it’s mostly GOP-voting, conservative states that get more than they recieve.

[RockinRight]

Err...get more than they PAY IN, I meant to say.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Here is the chart this information appears to be based on -- it's from 2005:

Federal Spending Received Per Dollar of Taxes Paid by State, 2005

[CharlesWayneCT]

Here is a quote from a previous version of this study:

Defense spending, which includes procurement, soldiers' salaries, and base operation, historically has gone to southern and western states while New England has had lower per capita defense spending, said Matt Kane, policy analyst for budget issues for the Northeast Midwest Institute.

As I said, this includes all federal spending, which means a state with few people but a major air base could end up high on the list, since a lot of money gets spent through an air base.

Virginia has a naval base, an air base, and a lot of federal facilities, so it has a high influx of federal spending, even though it is pretty low on the list of federal money sent to states.

[Sopater]

It would be good to find one that focuses on subsidies and grants vs. monies paid in.

[pgkdan]

This kind of thing is very misleading. It shows Virginia receiving more than ‘it’s share’ of federal dollars but neglects to mention that Northern VA is the home of most of the federal government and SE VA is home to the largest Naval Base in the world along with a veritable host of other assorted and sundry military installations. It’s not like the Feds are pumping in billions of tax dollars to repair 95 and 64 and their related infrastructures.